A Look of Sheer Terror
by GuessingGame
Summary: He'd had strange cases, ones that were unusual. He'd dealt with narcissists, psychopaths, and sociopaths. But Spencer Reid had never had a case like this one/ "Miss Granger, we have an emergency." she said, rushing to her desk. "There's a wizard using the Killing curse in America, against Muggles."
1. Chapter 1

He'd had strange cases, ones that were unusual. He'd dealt with narcissists, psychopaths, and sociopaths. But Spencer Reid had never had a case like this one.

"Alicia Wallace, 23." said Garcia, pressing a button on her remote. A picture popped up on the screen of a pretty brunette girl, smiling happily. "First year law student at Harvard. Her body was dumped in an alley a mile from her apartment." Another photo popped up of the girl, this time no longer smiling. Instead, she had a look of sheer terror on her face. "Three other students were found in exactly the same way up and down the east coast." More photos appeared of young women in similar positions. They all looked terrified.

The profilers all looked at their tablets with varying degrees of confusion. "What was the cause of death?" Hotch asked

Garcia made a face. "Well, thats the doosie. We _don't know" _

This statement caused the team to look up in confusion. "What do you mean we...don't know?" Reid asked. A twenty-three year old didn't just drop dead of her own accord. There had to be a reason. It didn't make any sense.

"I mean...we really don't know. This chick is like, perfectly healthy. Her autopsy showed that everything was normal except for the fact she's, you know, dead."

Hotch grabbed his tablet and stood "Wheels up in thirty."

* * *

_Hermione Granger, Head of Magical Law Enforcement. _

She knew it was silly, but Hermione loved to look at her desk's name tag. To her it was a reminder of how hard she had worked. She was the youngest HMLE ever by ten years, at age twenty-five. It hadn't been easy, but she had done it. It had involved a lot of energy potions and sleepless nights, to say the least.

Life at the Ministry had been rather slow lately. Cases only came by the Head (or as her co-workers called her, the Brain) when they were quite serious and the wizarding world seemed to be behaving as of late. So, Hermione resigned herself to filing papers and keeping her staff in line. In fact, she had been expecting to have a perfectly boring day alone in her office when her assistant burst through the door.

"Miss Granger, we have an emergency." she said, rushing to her desk. Her assistant was a dramatic, twitchy young thing just graduated from Hogwarts. "There's a wizard using the Killing curse in America, against Muggles." she said, placing a file on Hermione's desk."

"Shouldn't the American Office handle this, Wendy?" Hermione asked, picking up the file. While the Ministry of Magic was in charge of the entire wizarding world, in each country there was a branch to handle things there unless it became too serious. While what was happening was certainly awful, it didn't seem necessary to call them in. They had a perfectly competent Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the states.

"Yes, miss." said Wendy, "But we didn't hear about the murders until the Muggle Police had already gotten the case. It's all over the American news. They're requesting you to Apparate there today to help handle the case."

Hermione sighed, "Very well. I'll just review the file and I'll be off." Wendy left the office and Hermione opened the file to a picture of a young woman, unmistakably a killing curse victim. Her hair was moving in the wind but otherwise she was perfectly still.

Hermione sighed and left her office to apparate to the U.S.A


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Wow! I was really surprised at the number of people who subscribed to this story! Thanks so much! I'd really like you guys to review more, too! **

**Reviews are sort of my motivation to write more, you know? Feel free to post opinions, predictions, ideas or even profiles!**

* * *

Hermione was greeted with a chaotic scene as soon as she appeared at the American Department Of Magical Law Enforcement. Paper airplanes were flying everywhere and people were rushing around, talking loudly with looks of panic on their faces. Hermione approached a frazzled looking worker.

"I'd like to see the Head of this department, I'm Hermione Granger, head of Magical Law Enforcement." she said in what she hoped was an official sounding voice. The worker nodded and lead Hermione to the back, where a tall man with dark hair was talking to a group of people

"...urge you to stay calm and remember to keep your covers, please." he said before looking up at Hermione, whom he seemed to recognize. "Alright, that'll be all. Thanks" The workers quickly dispersed and he approached Hermione with a grateful look and shook her hand. Hermione was surprised at his forwardness but returned the gesture.

"Thomas Bar, Head. I'm so grateful you're here, we need all the help we can get. He struck again early this morning, this time it was a muggle by the name of Alicia Wallace." he said, handing her two photos. A brunette with bright green eyes was smiling in the first, but in the second was unmistakably dead. "The other victims are Azalea Wrest, Amanda Wig, and Amara Weidie."

"Yes, I read the file. All the victims are brunettes with the initials AW. That's significant." she said, giving him back the photos. "So, what's my job here?"

"Well, from now on you are Harriet Grant, director of the M16's Department Of Unsolvable Deaths. It's so secret it doesn't exist." he says, winking at his bad attempt to make a joke. He handed her an ID with her fake name and an unmoving picture "You've been called in to help the FBI with this case."

Hermione pinned the ID to her jacket "Where am I headed?"

"The BAU in Quantico, Virginia."

* * *

"...They have a department for this?" Garcia said in disbelief. The whole team was on the jet, Garcia on webcam. Hotch had just announced who was coming to help with the case.

"Apparently. Their director is meeting us at the crime scene." Hotch answered with a frown. Prentiss looked up from her tablet and frowned. "It's going to be impossible to give a full profile with no COD. It tells a lot about the killer."

"We can still do victimology" Rossi said "All the victims were pretty, all brunettes."

"They all have the initials AW." Reid said, and couldn't help looking at Emily. _LR. _He could tell the rest of the team remembered too, for they were all shifting uncomfortably. Hotch was the one who finally broke the silence._  
_

"They're probably surrogates for a brunette woman with those initials who hurt the unsub in some way" he said "Maybe and ex-wife or girlfriend, a mother who abused him."

The team spitballed ideas for a little while, the missing COD in their minds. It was an important part of a killer's mind, the way he killed. For example, people that strangled their victims were usually sadistic. they wanted to watch the light leave their victim's eyes.

They all had a feeling there was more to this case then they realized.

* * *

The plane landed shortly after and the team drove their SUVs to the crime scene, where a petite woman with wild curly hair was standing with their back to them. Hotch approached her and coughed. She turned around.

"I'm Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner with the BAU, these are SSA's Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, Jareau, Morgan and Doctor Spencer Reid" he said. Hermione smiled and began to shake hands with each of them (as she now realized all Americans did).

"Hello, I'm Harriet-" suddenly, she stopped talking. She had just reached Spencer Reid. Her eyes widened and for no reason she felt she couldn't breathe for a moment. "H-Harriet Grant." she spoke in barely a whisper, and stuck out her hand hesitantly. In an uncharacteristic motion, he returned the gesture, their hands staying locked for just a fraction of a second longer than they should.


End file.
